Andrew Fountain - Stories of God who Knows Everything
- Artist: Andrew Fountain
- Title: Stories of God who Knows Everything
- Album: Newlife Church, Toronto
- Track: 4
- Genre: God's character revealed through stories
- Year: 2013-06-23
- Length: 38:22 minutes (15.37 MB)
- Format: MP3 Stereo 44kHz 56Kbps (VBR)
Link to Video:
Stories of God who knows everything Full sermon notes - Stories of God who knows everything
- A few weeks ago people were shocked by the revelation of a US government program called Prism, run by the National Security Agency to intercept vast amounts of private telephone calls, facebook posts and email.
- In the UK, there are 1.85 million video cameras recording every road and public space
- The governments say “If you’re not doing anything wrong, what have you got to hide?”
- Is that true? Why should we worry?
- What if the government is overtly evil
- God reveals himself as someone who knows everything
- An early story
- And then a few chapters later we have a story that tells of God’s exact knowledge of the future as well:
- Abraham was old and had no children
- All this happened exactly
- Sometimes God seems to need knowledge:
- Test Abraham’s faith —why?
- Not to find out, but to provide an opportunity to do something amazing
- Why Sodom question?
- Again, it was to give them an opportunity to prove they are wrong
- But if God knew what they would do?
- Even thought God knew, they still had a real choice
- God’s knowledge of the future does not mean you don’t have a choice
- Does God know what you are going to eat tomorrow, or talk to after the meeting?
- Does that mean you are not free to choose?
- There is a tension—we can’t resolve it
- We have a free choice, but afterwards we will discover that we did exactly what God knew we would
- Story of
www.founders.org/journal/fj46/article2_fr.html
- One of the largest networks of churches in Toronto has this teaching!
- How would you answer her?
- The story of Joseph
- dreams
- obey father & visit brothers
- work hard as a servant
- prison
- 2 dreams
- elevation
- Saviour
- Did God make a mistake chosing Saul to be king?
- It certainly looked like it in the short term
- the LORD “regretted” that he had made Saul king over Israel. (1 Sam 15:35)
- Poor translation, “grieved” would be much better—we may have to do something that is “tough love” and it’s hard to do, but we don’t regret it.
- It was a stepping stone on the pathway to David
- Ultimately is was the best route
Judgement
- justice (last week trial was reported where it turned out a policeman had lied and the man was found innocent
- Ironically it was the security video camera evidence that completely turned the case
- A trial with corrupt evidence is a terrifying thing if you are innocent
- One of my childhood memories is throwing frisbee and it hitting my brother
- They couldn’t read my mind
- But if you are guilty, then the last thing you want is for every tiny detail to come to light
- God’s judgement will be terrifying for those whose sins have not been washed clean by Jesus
Why it’s a good thing that God knows everything
- Have you ever heard it reported “He was found guilty and asked for 15 other robberies to be taken into consideration.”
- I used to be confused by that
- But if he got them included in this sentence, he couldn’t be tried for them again
- But what if he forgot something?
- When you ask God for forgiveness—what if you forget something?
- Some religions where people have to “confess their sins” to a priest, they can be terrified they have forgotten something.
- God knows everything
- If he has forgiven you, then every sins from the biggest to the smallest is forgiven.
- He knows you intimately
- The number of hairs on your head (right now...)
- Every part of the inner workings of your body
- Not just your conscious thoughts, but your subconscious, your buried memories, your past hurts
- God does not say: Andrew, I had such high hopes for you, but you have turned out to be such a disappointment!
Have you ever known someone who loves you dearly, but doesn’t understand you at all?
- They keep trying to help, but not what you need
- What if God were like that?
- Do not be afraid! —how can you say this unless you know
- most fear is from uncertainty. That is the hardest thing to deal with.
Psalm 139
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
- O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
- You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar. - You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways. - Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. - You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me. - Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it. - Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence? - If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! - If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, - even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me. - If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,” - even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you. - For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. - I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. - My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth. - Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them. - How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them! - If I would count them,
they are more than the sand.
I awake,
and I am still with you.
… - Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts! - And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Version: ESV
- David is not boasting, but inviting God to examine him
- He knows there will be failings, but he trusts God to examine him
- It’s not a “self-improvement program”, it’s about yeilding ourselves to God and asking him to come in and change us.
- Have you ever been on a journey with someone and half way there you say
- Do you know the way?
- No, I thougth you knew the way!
- When I was a teenager, our church would sometimes organize a walk for us all to go on
- The guy who organized the walk was well known for getting confused about where we were, half way round, and having to get the maps out.
- Is that the kind of leader who inspires you to follow them?
- This week, live in the light of a God who knows everything about you
- I challenge you live your life consciously open before him, as David did:
- Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts! - And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
- Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Updated on 2013-06-25 by Andrew Fountain
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